OPERATION HOMEFRONT TO DISTRIBUTE HOLIDAY MEALS TO MILITARY FAMILIES

ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. – Operation Homefront will distribute more than 200 holiday meals to military families Nov. 20 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Airman and Family Readiness Center on Ellsworth Air Force Base through the national nonprofit’s annual Holiday Meals for Military program.

Each meal will include non-perishables and a gift card redeemable for the rest of the groceries necessary for a full holiday meal.

The Holiday Meals for Military program began Thanksgiving 2009 as the result of a chance encounter in a supermarket in Utica, N.Y., near Fort Drum. A soldier, his wife, and infant had a handful of grocery items they could not afford, so a Beam Inc. employee picked up the $12 cost for the groceries. Since that time, the program has grown from initially providing 500 meal kits to military families in 2009 to providing nearly 7,000 nationally this holiday season.